Jill Kelley dropped as 'honorary consul' of South Korea

Nov. 26, 2012
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Jill Kelley's Mercedes-Benz, seen here Nov. 13, sported her personalized "honorary consul" license plate from South Korea. An official said Monday the country had stripped her of the symbolic title. / Chris O'Meara AP

by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

Jill Kelley, the Florida socialite who tipped the dominoes that toppled Gen. David Petraeus, has lost her diplomatic status.

South Korea has dropped her as an "honorary consul" for misusing the symbolic title for personal gain, a senior South Korean official said Monday in Washington, the Yonhap News Agency reports. No privileges, protections or responsibilities come with the title.

Kelley's diplomatic status emerged two weeks ago in the scandal involving the former CIA director and Gen. John Allen, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Amid the media circus that set up camp around her Tampa home, Kelley called 911 to complain about trespassers and invoked her title with the Republic of Korea, the country's official name:

"I'm an honorary consul general, so I have inviolability, so they should not be able to cross my property," she told the 911 operator. "I don't know if you want to get diplomatic protection involved as well, because that's against the law to cross my property because, you know, it's inviolable."

"She does not work as a real consul. They play a role to improve the relationship between the ROK and the U.S.," the official said. "Jill Kelley helped to get support for [the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement] and she arranged meetings between the ROK Ambassador to Washington and local businessmen when the ROK Ambassador visited the Tampa area."

The "diplomatic official with direct knowledge of the arrangement" told Foreign Policy that the 37-year-old Kelley received the title in August "thanks to her good connections and network." The Korea Times wrote that honorary consuls "play a bridging role" between the countries.

South Korea has 15 honorary U.S. consuls, in medium-size cities with no consulate. A source told the Times that honorary consuls are paid $2,500 a year, and that Seoul notifies the U.S. State Department before naming them.

"I am pretty sure we didn't know that she had a relationship with the people" involved in the scandal, a foreign ministry official told The Korea Times.

Kelley had no official affiliation with the State Department, a spokesman said.

The Korea Times, citing "multiple sources," also reported that South Korea's former U.S. ambassador, Han Duck Soo, had recommended Kelley.

The Times wrote that Han, a major player in his country's bid for the trade pact, "seems to have recognized her connections with senior U.S. officials."